The use of social media to improve customer service and branding was highlighted in a story published Oct. 17 in the Huffington Post contributed by Andy Jankowski of EnterpriseStrategies.com. Jankowski relates how on a bicyle ride through Indianapolis he almost was hit by a UPS truck that failed to stop at a stop sign.

Jankowski waited until after he had completed his ride and then tweeted about the near-accident:

@AndyJankowski: Near miss with @UPS driver while #cycling today. No worries - nobody's perfect - but did make me think about going @Fedex ;-)

To his surprise, several minutes later UPS’s “Corporate Social Media Team” responded by Twitter asking Jankowski to contact their customer service email with information about the incident, and within 20 minutes got an email response and then a followup phone call, reassuring him that they were able to identify the driver and would inform the supervisor about the incident.

The power of real-time customer service

Jankowski was “blown away” by the customer service team’s professionalism and concern, and claims he is “now a UPS customer and brand advocate for life”. Two weeks later, UPS followed up by sending him a replica UPS truck and several toy trucks for his children.

While it seems that UPS’s customer service was the exception that proved the rule, it does reveal both the power of positive customer experiences, as well as the importance of using all available channels, including social media, when providing customer service.